BEAUTIFUL UGANDA 129 



forever seemingly on the line of march. They traverse forest paths 

 in all directions along causeways of their own, worn in the soil by 

 the passage of their thousands. 



"When you come across one of these armies of ants in motion, 

 on either side of the main stream, v/hich is perhaps only half an inch 

 broad, there may be a couple of feet of biting warriors in a swarming 

 mass on either side of the rapidly marching army of workers carry- 

 ing pupae. Sentinels are out far and wide in all directions, and if 

 you pause anywhere within a few feet of this marching body of ants 

 you will very soon feel the consequences in a series of painful nips 

 as though from red-hot pincers. These warrior ants know no fear. 

 They attack any creature which comes near their line of march, 

 burying their powerful mandibles in the flesh, and will then let the 

 head be torn from the body sooner than give way. 



"One prominent feature in the landscape of Entebbe, and in fact 

 of much of southern Uganda, are the lofty incense-trees (Pacliy lohus). 

 These grow to a great height and are perennially covered with a rich 

 green pinnate foliage. The rugose trunk of thick girth sweats a 

 whitish gum, which, scraped off and burnt on hot coals, produces the 

 smoke of fragrant incense. These trees produce at certain seasons 

 of the year enormous quantities of blue-black plums, which are the 

 favorite food of gray parrots, violet plantain-eaters, and the great 

 blue Corythoeola, besides monkeys and hornbills. Wherever, there- 

 fore, there is one of these trees growing those who live in the neigh- 

 borhood may enjoy all day long the contemplation of the gorgeous 

 plumage of these birds, the antics and cries of the parrots, and the 

 wild gambols of the monkeys." 



Let us now take a glance at the people who inhabit this rich realm 

 of Uganda — the happy people we would say, but for a fact with which 

 we have yet to deal. On the opposite side of the Victoria Lake we 

 passed through the tribe of the Kavirondos, a people who have a de- 

 cided objection to the wearing of clothes, preferring the primitive sim- 

 plicity of nature to all the allurements of fashion. As for their man- 

 ners and customs, they have none other than such base shreds of 

 manners as savages usually possess. 



Landing at Entebbe, with not many miles of water between, we 



